Former foreign minister Avigdor Liberman slammed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday for his decision to apologize to his Turkish counterpart for the “operational errors” made by Israel during the 2010 raid on the Turkish Gaza-bound ship Mavi Marmara.

“Israel’s apology for the soldiers activity against a terrorist organization is a serious mistake,” said Liberman, who served as Israel’s top diplomat during the height of the crisis with Turkey.

“Anyone who watched the photos taken on the ship Mavi Marmara understands beyond any doubt that the IDF soldiers acted in self-defense against the activists of the IHH organization, recognized in European countries, including Germany and the Netherlands, as a terrorist organization,” stated Liberman.

President Obama went to the Middle East with hopes of stamping his signature on the stalled peace process, but comes home claiming another diplomatic victory as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu apologized to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan for the Gaza flotilla incident.

According to senior administration officials, after Obama’s needling Netanyahu phoned Erdogan for the first time since 2009 and apologized for the Mavi Mara flotilla incident and acknowledged “operational mistakes.” Erdogan accepted the apology.

The officials said Netanyahu made the call from a trailer at the airport just before Obama took off. At some point, Obama hopped on the phone in the 30-minute conversation.

Erdogan’s verbal and diplomatic attacks on Israel predated Turkish attempts to help Hamas and the Iranians break the Israeli military blockade of Gaza, a blockade which even a U.N. panel ruled was legal under international law.

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Liberman, imho, is off base with this one. Israel can fully apologize to turkey for a mistake on it’s own part. Everyone already knows the the Turkish PM is anti-semetic.

Bible is just following biblical principle. Treat your enemies well, “If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat; if he is thirsty, give him water to drink. In doing this you will heap burning coals on his head, and the Lord will reward you.” – Proverbs 25:21-22

The Gaza Flotilla was a pre-planned provocation that would create the illusion of victimization of the poor pathetic Palestinians. It was a form of propaganda jihad that Islamists have begun to use quite well.

Those aboard the boat were the violent aggressors who opened fire first.

Rational people can read, understand the history and know that in fact, the Arabs are the illegal occupiers of both the West Bank and Gaza.

I have read some reactions & like Paul – some are desperately wanting to believe this is a chess game . It is not & Bibi is pretty much finished.

Snopercod alludes to Cyprus. Have read suggestions on British blogs heavy deposits by Israelis – including ex Russian oligarchs – are involved. but I don’t se how Turkey fits in other than not invading .

Banned, This isn’t a chess game, it’s living in the real world. Sometimes you have to stand up for things you believe are right, even when they are unpopular. I’ll hold off on whether Netanyahu is finished or not, since others have said that about him before. What is important is trust. And Netanyahu is a lot more trustworthy than other politicians I’ve known. Compromise is only a dirty word when principles, not policy, are involved. I don’t see Netanyahu bending on principles yet. Time will tell though.